Keuka College says goodbye to Allen Hall

One year after it was left uninhabitable following a New Year’s Day waterline break, a 70-year-old Keuka College building is being torn down.

Allen Hall, which formerly housed the college’s Art & Design program, American Sign Language classroom and language laboratory, and Office of Human Resources, had been boarded up since a third-floor water line burst in zero-degree temperatures on Jan 1, 2018. Repairs and renovations proved cost-prohibitive, so the decision was made to raze the building.

Preparations for the project began this week with demolition expected to take about five days. Additional site work will be completed in the spring.

Originally named North Hall when it was built in 1945, Allen Hall served a variety of roles. Word that it had reached the end of its service was met with nostalgia by several college alumnae.

“Oh, if it could talk, the stories Allen Hall could tell,” said Sue Ellen Bordwell of the Class of 1967. “I moved into Allen in the fall of 1963 — my first home away from home. My best memory of that year is waking up in the morning to the sounds of ‘Stroke! Stroke!’ as the crew team practiced on the lake.”

Kathryn Littleton of the Class of ‘79 noted that it served the community beyond campus boundaries.